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Organization: Rural China Education Foundation

Based in: United States,   US EIN #: 20-2753350 add to cart Request Info

Quick Facts

Our mission is to promote education in rural China that empowers students to improve their lives and their communities. We believe rural students should develop skills and confidence from their education that will help them deal with real world problems, deepen their understanding of social issues, and prepare them to make positive changes in their local environments.

Focus Areas: Children, Education, Poverty
Countries Served: China

Background

Date Founded: 2005
Number of Staff: 9

Description of Services:
Our strategy is to accumulate and share practice-based expertise on teaching methods that make rural education more relevant to rural students' lives, more well-rounded, and more enjoyable. We network and support rural educators to experiment with and document effective curricula and teaching approaches for the rural context. We also support library and reading programs in our partner schools and support other schools and organizations to implement innovative teaching projects.
History:
RCEF was born in the fall of 2004 when a group of overseas Chinese scholars at the Dragon 100 conference got together because of their common interest in researching and supporting rural education in China.

From 2005 to 2007, RCEF started a number of new programs such as supporting rural education projects of small grassroots organizations and setting up several rural school and community libraries. These programs were mainly started in response to the needs and requests of rural schools and to opportunities to collaborate with other organizations. During this period, we learned a lot about the problems and needs in rural education which have led RCEF to its current strategy and work.
Accomplishments & Progress:
1. Integrative Rural Education Program: Based in Guan'Ai school, this platform of 200 students supports full-time rural teachers to experiment with and document effective curricula and teaching approaches for the rural context.

2. Summer Volunteer Program: Since 2005, 120 RCEF volunteers have put on 14 innovative summer camps reaching around 1000 children to supplement and enrich their rural village education.

3. Innovation Grants Program: RCEF has the only small grant competition in China for grassroots rural education projects. We have funded 13 projects to date.

4. Library and Reading Program: RCEF has set up 6 school and community libraries and is working to develop methods to foster a life-long love of learning.

Additional Information

Additional Background Information:
RCEF serves rural children in China. Their existing education system focuses on rote memorization for exams and college entrance. However, only 20% of rural students ever step foot in high school, while the rest become farmers or migrant workers, finding themselves at the bottom of the society. Completing 9 years of compulsory education neither provides them with better employment opportunities nor prepares them to handle the exploitation and other challenges people from rural areas now face in Chinese society. As a result, many rural students drop out of middle school even though they can afford to go. On the community level, the education system causes a brain drain, attracting the most successful students into the cities and always become ashamed of their rural roots. Since the curriculum is far removed from the rural context and needs, those who remain do not have the knowledge and skills needed to make a positive difference, and the vicious cycle continues.
Local Partners:
Guan Ai Primary School, Yongji, Shanxi Province, China

After piloting the program at five schools during the 2007-2008 school year, RCEF selected Guan Ai Primary School in Yongji, Shanxi Province as the main site for the Integrative Rural Education Program. Founded and led by a village couple, Guan Ai is a rural boarding school that serves about 200 students in grades 1-6. The local school leaders are committed to developing quality teaching methods and curriculum suited to rural children's life needs.

RCEF looks forward to adapting the education methods developed at Guan Ai school to more rural elementary schools through year-round rural teacher support and trainings.
Additional Affiliations:
The Global Fund for Children, Echoing Green, The Chen Yet-Sen Family Foundation

Officers & Board

President:
Weiji Ma
Co-Founder and Chairman of the Board Phone: 713-668-0126
Development Director:
Diane Geng
Co-Founder and Co-Executive
Phone: 86 150 2928027
Volunteer Coordinator:
Nikita Guo
Co-Director of Development, New York
Phone: 917-923-3271
Board of Directors and Board of Advisors:
Wei Ji Ma
Chairman of the Board
He is an Assistant Professor of Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

Diane Geng
Co-Executive Director
She obtained an Ed.M from the Harvard Graduate School of Education as a Reynolds Scholar in 2007. From '04-'05, she researched rural education as a Fulbright scholar and was named an Echoing Green Fellow in 2007.

Sara Lam
Co-Executive Director
She obtained an EdM in International Education Policy from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and her BA in Elementary Education from the University of Minnesota. She researched rural education and collaborated with various non-governmental organizations on rural education projects.

Xuejing Chen
Director

Contact Information

Address:
Rural China Education Foundation
PO Box 92424
Rochester , NY 14692-0424
United States
Phone: (585) 610-4325
Fax:
Web: http://www.ruralchina.org

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